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Láska's Guide to Changeling Interaction
Hello, simple minded ponies! Nice to eat yo-... Meet you. My name is Láska. Say it with me. Laaaaah-skuuuh.Good.~ ANYWHO! I've taken over this part of the internet to address something very specific: Changeling Interaction! Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to belittle anyone; I'm just hoping to improve your chances of interacting with your favorite changeling players! Since all players have personal preferences, I don't guarantee that you'll get a scene with everyone, but hopefully this will help you understand a bit more about how the Hive works! Changelings! Changelings Everywhere! Most of you ponies think we're uncultured savages. Well, that just isn't true! The Hive is a complex place, full of drones that are unique and downright confusing. Before the complexity of it all hurts your thinkbits, I'll go over some things. While all players have creative liberty with their characters, there is a basic changeling canon that most of the drones involved in the Hive follow. There are exceptions to these canon guidelines, just as there are to the established Twitterponies Guidelines. An example of a canon exception is Bolt McRunfast. I'll just cover the basics, for the sake of making things easier. So, what exactly is a changeling? For those of you that don't know, a changeling is a creature of the bug horse varity that feeds off the emotions of others. They can take the forms of most anything, but there are rules to what they can and can not change into. While each character is different, changelings prefer love to any other emotion, as that is what gives them the most energy. There are three kinds of changelings, listed below. These are just a general idea of the kinds of drones the active Hive will interact with, and is in no way a limit to your creativity. 'Hive Drones' These are drones that are loyal to Chrysalis. They are part of the active hive, and have a specific job within it. You'll quickly find that most Hive Drones do not like ponies, but there are a few who are completely pleasant. 'Equestrian Citizens' These drones have renounced the Hive and choose to align themselves with the ponies. They have a weak connection to the link, just enough to distinguish hidden changelings from ponies. Not allowed to take the forms of others, they are fed by a supply of soylove distributed by the local guard. Hive Drones considers these types to be defective, and see no kinship with them. 'Banished Drones' These are drones that did not have a choice in leaving the Hive. Cut off from the link, they are considered rouges. Hive Drones will not acknowledge their presence. (*NOTE* There are two kinds of this type: players who have decided this is the character they would like to play, and players that were literally banished from Hive roleplay for not following basic changeling and Twitterpony Guidelines after being given plenty of warning. Yes, this has happened before. Don't be that drone.) Changeling Etiquette Here's where things get a bit touchy. I'm not going to turn this into a rant, so I'll keep this short and to the point. In my two years as an active drone, there are things I've seen some ponies do that just completely turn me off from wanting to interact with any ''pony accounts. While I understand that not every pony is bad, it's gotten to the point where I would only consider rping with the members of the Hive who have pony alts, and that's not fair for everyone else, right? So, I got a few major players in the Hive together, and we came up with a basic Changeling Etiquette for Ponies. 'Changeling Concealment' As mentioned above, changelings take the form of others to move about pony society undetected. Let's create a scenerio, using Myriad (who else?) as an example! : ''*sitting on a mailbox in cat form, Myriad gives condescending glances toward every pony that passes* '' : That's a pretty normal cat thing to do, right? Myriad looks like a typical, grumpy cat, and as far as any pony knows, that's what she is. So, what's a response Myriad's player would like to see? Let's use a random pony: : ''*Groot trots out to check his mailbox, only to find a grumpy looking cat sitting on top of it* ... (@mlp_Myriad) '' : This is a pretty good example of the kinds of responses most changeling players will choose to interact with. Not only is Groot clueless that Myriad is in fact a changeling in disguise, it doesn't ruin her scene. : ''*Groot trots out to check his mailbox, only to find a highly suspicious cat on top of it* I am Groot! (This might be a changeling!) *he pulls out a detector plant, and blasts @mlp_Myriad full in the face* '' : Classic example of powergaming . Most changeling players will ignore something like this. Some will powergame right back, myself included. If that happened to me, I'd stuff the pony the mail box and resin the lid shut. Not very fun. Myriad would most likely ignore it. Why? Because Groot backed her into a corner, and she had to choose to either acknowledge the new developement (thereby ruining any scene she may have planned) or completely ignore it, which makes her seem like a jerk. '''Detector Plants' As a Hive, we have acknowledged the existence of the detector plants. The general opinion of them is that they're completely OP. Not only are they making it impossible to go anywhere as a disguised changeling, it's a trump card the ponies don't even need! We know we're not going to win, so it's not like we're going to try and overpower our way past the Mane Six and collective Princesses. That'd be stupid. Instead, work with us! We're open to having our scene end with us failing in a hilarious way, so don't be afriad to ask! Detector plants may be used, but only if the changeling players give their consent beforehand. Otherwise, we'll end the scene then and there, and that player will most likely not want to interact ever again. Why? * In all honesty, the detector plants ruin our fun. We like to play the sneaky bad guy. It's why we're changelings, and not Diamond Dogs. * In canon, we've created a way to circumvent the detector plants, using gems. Built to look like a broach or charm or something a pony would wear, it's a set of gemstones with properties similar to crystal healing. They redirect magics associated with negativity and change and transmute them to energies associated with love, so the flowers are confused and believe they see a pony. The gems have a 10' radius, with the Queen's being more powerful. Any drone within that radius is 'safe.' The gems aren't visible while a drone is in pony form, so it's be easy for a drone to slip up and forget theirs. Swarming A changeling walks into Ponyville, completely disguised, and is immediately swarmed by ponies. While the ponies have good intentions and just want senpai to notcie them, things get confusing for the changeling player, and distracts them from a scene they may already have planned. Interactions are welcome, but it's generally a good idea to check with the player first before jumping in. I suggest reading the last twenty or so tweets, to get an idea of what's going on. If the player chooses to respond to a tweet, great! Don't force it. Just because they respond to one, doesn't mean they'll respond to every tweet sent their way. Ponies in the Hive This isn't as much of a problem as it was a while back, but it still should be mentioned. The Hive is the only home the changelings have, so they don't take kindly to ponies who randomly pop up for a visit. The location is unknown. It's not plotted on a map, and there's no train that will take a pony to the Hive. There are such things as Loyal Ponies , but that takes lots of time and effort to achieve. If you want your pony to visit the Hive, check with a player. If they say no, respect that decision. Again, don't push it. That'll earn you a block. 'Foals' We don't kidnap foals, period. Most changelings will have nothing to do with them, as they're noisy and clingy. We may be the bad guys, but we see foals as innocents. 'Character Consistency' A pony doesn't trust changelings. They start an RP with one, and halfway through, they admit changelings aren't half bad, and claim to have been raised by one. My only response to that is to vacate the immediate area. Keeping consistent with the character's true actions is a great way to keep us interested in continuing a scene. If a player gets too choppy with what their characters reactions would be, we don't know how to react, so we try and end the scene. If your pony hates changelings, great! If they like changelings, fantastic! Stay consistent, and we'll love you 5ever. Questions? As players, there are things we like to see and things we don't when interacting with others. One of the reasons our hive roleplay works so well is because we communicate ''internally, whether it be through OOC accounts or in Skype. Feel free to ask questions in the comments below, and I'll address them as they come up. You can also directly mention a player or DM them if they follow you with any questions you have regarding the roleplay and how they play their character. I also recommend you check out Roseluck's blog post regarding Changelings , as it's a pretty good source of information. 'Why is it taking so long for me to get approval to join the Hive/become a loyal pony/set up a scene with the Queen? I'm answering these questions in one go, as they have the same answer: lack of time. Chrysalis' player is usually busy, or already has scenes set up that will take up most of her time. To join the Hive, just read the instructions the Queen links in her wikia page, and go from there. Currently, there is no 'official' process of joining the Hive (last I heard we were having some technical issues with the joining forms). Just make your account, tweet to Chrysalis to let her know you exist, and start playing. It's also important to note that becoming what is known as a 'loyal pony' to the Hive takes a completely different route than just setting up the account and starting out as one. It's time consuming, difficult, and something that won't happen all at once. '''I'm a new changeling to the Hive, and there isn't any Alpha's giving me tasks! What do I do? Create your own things to do. Alpha's are there to oversee things, not to entertain you when you're bored. Find a niche your character can fill, and explore it. Most of hive rp is self-rp; in fact, Chrysalis recommends that your drone account should be a secondary account, as most of the time the hive is a quiet place to be. Hive roleplay isn't for everyone. Rarely does a new changeling account last for more than a few months, as people discover this just isn't the RP for them. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. 'Senpai isn't noticing me!' There can be many reasons why. I suggest reading this entire page, before doing anything else. Then, go back and read the last twenty or so tweets of the player you're trying to interact with, to get an idea of what's going on. Maybe they're already in a scene, and just dropped using the @ mentions with the character they're interacting with (it's a common thing for our group of players to do). If that seems to be the case, keep scrolling until you find the other player's @ mention name, and read their tweets too! If it seems like it could be a private scene (the setting is in a pony's house, for example), wait until it's over. If it seems like an open scene, and you still don't get a mention, don't push the player for one. 'Is mayonnaise an instrument? ' No, Patrick, mayonnaise is not an instrument. .... Horseradish is not an instrument, either. :: ::: Category:Changeling Category:TwitterPonies Guidelines Category:Blog posts Category:RP Info